An illicit drugs network believed to be linked to a Balkan organised crime gang has been smashed in Western Australia.
An East Victoria Park man, 61, has been charged with serious drug offences alongside two other Perth men aged 64 and 68.
The charges were laid after an operation in August stemming from a Serious and Organised Crime Division investigation into the 61-year-old, who is believed to have links to Balkan organised crime.
The operation is one of three conducted in Perth in the past few months related to the distribution of methylamphetamine and heroin, resulting in a total of 19 arrests and 52 charges.
Overall, police seized about $7 million in cash, three kilograms of methylamphetamine or ice, 28kg of heroin, six firearms and 3000 rounds of ammunition.
The two other operations are believed to be linked to criminal networks operating internationally, nationally and within WA. One was in Kenwick and the other in Midland.
WA Acting Commissioner Col Blanch said the seizures and arrests showed renewed efforts to target criminal networks were paying off.
"We continue to adapt to the business models used by criminal groups and are using innovative and unique investigative tactics to identify, infiltrate and disrupt those criminal networks," he said on Sunday.
"Anyone in WA who thinks they are safe using encrypted communications to purchase drugs or facilitate their movement need to think again.
"Over a dozen people from several WA-based criminal networks all thought they were safe - and they were all wrong."
Australian police are also trying to bring the overseas criminals linked to the operations to justice and last week had a success.
North Macedonian Police, on behalf of the WA Police Force, slapped a 27-year-old man with serious charges, in relation to a transnational organised crime network.
It will be alleged the man, who resides in North Macedonia, led the coordination, importation and distribution of illicit drugs and cash into WA.
He appeared before a court in North Macedonia on Friday, it was revealed on Sunday.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration, which worked with WA Police on the operations, praised their efforts.
"The Western Australia Police Force have proven again that they are prepared to go to the ends of the earth to keep the scourge of drugs from the shores of Australia and the streets of Western Australia," the DEA's Australia Country Office attache Kevin Merkel said.
"The results ... speak for themselves."
